Theater People: The Sequel

KATE PLAYS CHRISTINE (C) - Kate Lyn Sheil has had an interesting run in indie films during this decade, while finding regular TV work to pay her bills. We noticed her in Alex Ross Perry's "Listen Up Philip," "The Color Wheel" and "Queen of Earth," and in "Gabi on the Roof in July."

She has an appealing 1970s little-sister vibe, and she's a reliable supporting player. At some point, Sheil fell in with a project telling the story of Christine Chubbuck, an anchorwoman in Sarasota, Fla., who shot herself to death on live television back in 1974. This quasi documentary follows Sheil as she prepares for the part of Chubbuck in a feature film, an assignment that jangles her nerves and toys with her emotions.

Writer-director Robert Greene trod similar ground a couple of years ago in "Actress," in which he chronicled the struggles of an actress and mother trying to get back into the game at age 40. But Greene fails to find the magic a second time around.

Sheil mopes through this exercise as she researches the role, rehearses and shoots a few scenes. Some of the best parts of Greene's documentary come when he follows Sheil around to her interviews with Chubbock's family and former colleagues, 40 years after the tragedy. She's a decent reporter in that sense.

Where this all breaks down is in the attempt to ratchet up the intrigue as Sheil builds up her nerve to put on the brunette wig, sit as an anchor desk and put a pistol to her head. (She actually goes shopping for the same model of handgun that Chubbuck had used.) We are supposed to feel a building sense of dread as Sheil teeters on the brink of losing herself in the identity of the troubled anchorwoman.

But something is off. The angst just doesn't feel genuine. I don't doubt that it was a difficult role for Sheil to take on; it's just that too often her heightened anxiety and fear comes off as theatrical posturing. Oh, woe is the actress who dares tiptoe to the brink of horrors of human existence! (See Heath Ledger Syndrome.)

Part of that comes from the cheapness of the feature-film production itself. The snippets we see suggest that it was on a par with a TV weepy-of-the-week. The dialogue is pitiful. (There is no evidence that whatever they were working on will see the light of day. They were beaten to the punch by Rebecca Hall and the biopic "Christine," which last year earned a respectable 72 Metacritic score.)

Sheil throws a few fits on the set like a C-list diva in an E! reality show. By the end, you want to take her aside and tell her, "C'mon, Kate. Your devotion to the craft is admirable, and you are a very good actress. But just say the lines and get over yourself."